We all need to exercise on a frequent basis, especially as we get older. If you don't, your muscles will waste as part of the natural ageing process, your metabolism will require fewer calories to function, and even if you eat no more than you ever did, you will start putting on the pounds.
This unnecessary weight your gaining is slow but relentless. If you'd suddenly piled on 20 pounds you'd notice it straight away but one or two pounds a year is easily missed. That weight you gained while on holiday never seems to go away like it used to and your clothes appear to be getting smaller!
You decide enough is enough and start an work out program. As part of your program you start running or jogging. At first you don't have a problem but after a couple of months the front of your shins become painful. Chances are you have Shin Splints.
I've been around horses all my life and always knew if you worked them on very hard ground they were likely to develop splints. Now splints in a horse can leave them lame (limping) for a long time. I never realised the same could happen to us. In humans though it's called Shin Splints.
I love to jog and use it as my primary method of keeping fit. Imagine my horror when after a short distance I started to develop a dull ache down the front of my legs. At the beginning I put it down to my age and just kept running trusting it would go away after I'd warmed up a bit.
I had hoped the pain would just go away but, you guessed it, it got much worse. The pain would get so bad that in the end I couldn't finish my training and would end up limping home at a snails pace. After a couple of days the pain in my lower legs would go away but it would always come back again if I started running again.
Shin Splints has nothing to do with splints. It is simply the name used when the long, thin muscle on the front of your lower leg is overused and gets inflamed " sort of Repetitive Strain Injury in the leg " and, as I learned when I went to train as a Sports Therapist can be treated.
This unnecessary weight your gaining is slow but relentless. If you'd suddenly piled on 20 pounds you'd notice it straight away but one or two pounds a year is easily missed. That weight you gained while on holiday never seems to go away like it used to and your clothes appear to be getting smaller!
You decide enough is enough and start an work out program. As part of your program you start running or jogging. At first you don't have a problem but after a couple of months the front of your shins become painful. Chances are you have Shin Splints.
I've been around horses all my life and always knew if you worked them on very hard ground they were likely to develop splints. Now splints in a horse can leave them lame (limping) for a long time. I never realised the same could happen to us. In humans though it's called Shin Splints.
I love to jog and use it as my primary method of keeping fit. Imagine my horror when after a short distance I started to develop a dull ache down the front of my legs. At the beginning I put it down to my age and just kept running trusting it would go away after I'd warmed up a bit.
I had hoped the pain would just go away but, you guessed it, it got much worse. The pain would get so bad that in the end I couldn't finish my training and would end up limping home at a snails pace. After a couple of days the pain in my lower legs would go away but it would always come back again if I started running again.
Shin Splints has nothing to do with splints. It is simply the name used when the long, thin muscle on the front of your lower leg is overused and gets inflamed " sort of Repetitive Strain Injury in the leg " and, as I learned when I went to train as a Sports Therapist can be treated.
About the Author:
Just by following some simple precautions, I could have saved myself and my poor shins a lot of pain, frustration and discomfort. If Id only known then what I know now, Id never have got shin splints in the first place! Carol J Bartram is a Sports Massage Therapist specialising in Shin Splint Treatments. To learn more about how to Treat Shin Splints please feel free to visit my site.
No comments:
Post a Comment